, 1887-06-09

Johann Martin schleyer. OF Constance,
Baden, Germany.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YoRK. June /.
Another language born. Were there not
,nough already Ever since the Tower oil
label diversity Of tongues has divided and
confused the dwellers Of the earth. There
we're too many, and now there Is one more.
10 to!
But there has been no international Ian
uage. The more strongly national the less
ltted for use by strangers. For that purpose
something different Is needed; mechanism,
ather than growth When we build
steam engine or a ship, we do not follow the
apricious forms which the environment has
n,oduced In the tree. So, when we need
nng,iage for those whose mother tongues are
mike, 1t must be one of perfect regularity,
implicitly and straightfor wardness, avoiding
al that Is local or eccentric or perverse.
The new language, "Volaplk, is only seven
wears old Being IA mechanism, not growth,
A the product OF one mans brain. A Catholic
priest, pastor OF little parish on the German
side of the Lake OF Constance, yet poet and
A linguist, had the great thought for years
shadowed in his mind, until, as he says, Zone
sleepless night the whole framework OF the
universal language flashed out before me-"
Johann Martin Schleyer Is now known to
thousands as tue inventor of Voapiik, the only
attempted universal language which has ever
had the least chance OF life.
~.
There have been previous attempts, and
later attempts, at constructing universal Ian
puages, but they have all fallen flat. Up to
Nt,.,x hnl nf l.aat, tsftNn
for them. The very idea of internationally,
OF world citizenship, is a modern one. The
ocean steamer, the cable, the postal union,
the daily newspaper, all these instrumental
ties make international speech possible and
give it an excuse for existence.
Nor has any other project for international
speech so closely struck the golden mean OF
common sense. The others have usually y been
based upon too abstract classification Of
ideas and have discarded the experience oil
existing languages. But Father Schleyer has
reasoned thus: In the study OF many Ian
g,iages we certainly perceive defects and
points of superiority. Each language has
forms Of expression which are clear, simple
and direct, and has other forms which are
unnatural, clumsy and difficult to learn.
Why not, then, select the good and reject the
badi This is what Schleyer has aimed to do,
rs we shall see hereafter.
The result is that Volapiik has been rapidly
gaining adherents in Europe until they are
numbered by the thousands, and the societies
devoted to its spread by the hundreds. There
are three periodicals published entirely in
Volapiik, besides others in Volapuk and Ger
man, Volsphk and French, Volapnk and
Spanish. Volapuk and Danish, Volapdk and
Italian, Volapuk and Dutch. Volapuk Cham
pagne Is a new brand; there is Volapak
music. volspdk songs, Volapak beer glasses
and Volapuk badges, bearing the Volapnk
symbol, the globe crossed by the cadnceus OF
Mercury with the motto "Menad Bal, Pnk
Bal" or zone Humanity, one Language"
Until recently there have been no suitable
text books for the use Of English speaking
persons who wish 20 learn the new language.
The few in England and America who have
studied 1t have done 80 through the medium
of German or French. Now that Professor